


A New Age

by ILookDaftWithOneShoe



Series: The World Today [3]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Adventure Time AU, Gen, Insanity, Past Character Death, Post-Apocalypse, Self-Discovery, Worldbuilding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-09
Updated: 2014-09-09
Packaged: 2018-02-16 18:15:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,287
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2279829
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ILookDaftWithOneShoe/pseuds/ILookDaftWithOneShoe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <em>Natasha was an immensely adaptable person. She had to be. She'd been trained to be from childhood. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>But no one could ever have trained her for what she went through after she woke up Tony Stark's house.</em>
</p><p>Natasha Romanov had been trained her whole life for very specific purposes. Now, cut loose in a world with literally no rules, she needs to figure out where to go next.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A New Age

**Author's Note:**

> It's back!
> 
> I'm in exam time, so I'm not writing apart from when an idea takes me, and this idea took me. I was planning to write another part from Tony's POV, but then I realised that Natasha's existence in this world raises questions that would be fun to write about.

Natasha was an immensely adaptable person. She had to be. She'd been trained to be from childhood. But no one could ever have trained her for what she went through when she woke up Tony Stark's house.

By anyone's standards she handled waking up after the apocalypse well. She'd expected to either die or wake up to a very different world when she went into hibernation under Tallinn, and her expectations were spot on. She hadn't been expecting Tony, though, and when she was honest with herself she was happy to see him.

The first day, her head was full of Strange's magical fog, so she just ate, showered, and slept for several hours until she felt vaguely human again. When she woke up, she was in a much better headspace from which to orientate herself.

Tony wasn't around, so she found her way to his balcony and had a look around to start with.

The house was in excellent condition, as was the coastline, but the water was murkier than it had been. All up, nothing looked overly changed on the first glance.

But in the distance she could see the town wrecked and overgrown by plant life. The roads were cracked and had grass in a weird variety of hues poking through.

She jumped back from the balcony when a bird swooped past, one with far too many legs and feathers of an unnatural blue-purple colour. With a cry, it turned and lunged at her eyes, and she gave it a firm blow that drove it away.

Her first encounter with this new world had been violent. She hoped not all of them would be.

The air tasted funny, but not in a way she could recognise. The sky seemed a slightly off colour.

Things were just different.

She ate breakfast. Tony had steered her away from anything fresh, saying it was all radioactive, so she was eating canned peaches.

Then she got JARVIS to give her a rundown on the state of the world.

He gave her the aerial version first. There was still steam visible from space in the remains of northern Asia and the Pacific, though activity had settled.

Then closer up. All humans apart from Tony, Strange, Bruce, and herself were assumed dead. Loki had occupied his own little niche in the Rockies. The rest of the Earth - Ooo, whatever - was free space for all the other flora and fauna to go nuts.

Her old apartment in Washington DC was apparently overrun by a type of massive vine sporting fluorescent yellow flowers. She watched it on JARVIS's screen for a moment, fascinated, until a squirrel crawled into one of the flowers and melted in a squirt of acid. Then she closed the screen and said goodbye to her belongings. No way was she fighting that thing.

After learning a little more about the world, she went to find Tony. He was down in his lab, buried in technology.

"Can I go outside?" she asked him.

He gave no sign that he'd seen her or heard her, but said "Sure, but don't go far. Nature'll fuck you up. Also, JARVIS took your dimensions; I'm making you an Iron Man suit."

"Thank you," she said.

"Repay me by not dying. It's good to have someone to talk to," Tony said. "My priority at this point is stopping you from getting radiation poisoning. Most of the fallout's decomposed, but it depends where you go. I'm surprised half the planet doesn't glow at night."

"When I have the suit, is there anywhere I shouldn't go?" Natasha asked. Maybe in the previous world she might've turned down the suit, but in this one, Tony couldn't actually have an ulterior motive.

"Nah, just stay out of trouble. And volcanoes. I build the best," Tony grinned. His hand slipped when he lost concentration and the back of his hand opened up with a spurt of blood. "Ow."

For a moment, Natasha sprung into first aid mode. Then she remembered he was immortal.

"Come look at this, Nat," Tony said, his voice sounding like he was almost giggling.

She did as he said, looking at the back of his hand. Tendons and bones were visible between the blood.

A few dirty green sparks oozed into the wound and knitted it up neatly.

Tony actually did start giggling and looked at her for the first time in the conversation. "This shit's cool."

"I wouldn't call it hygienic," Nat said, halfway between amused and disturbed.

"Who gives a gosh-diddly-gumdrop about hygiene? I'm not gonna get tetanus. I'm not gonna get anything," Tony said, laughing again.

Nat excused herself after that, a touch uncomfortable.

 _He's finally gone off the deep end,_ she told herself. _But he's the best I've got._

-O.O-

In the first evenings Natasha was at Tony's house, she explored the whole top to bottom, stir-crazy. Tony went to bed when the sun went down, adjusted to a more primitive body clock, but she'd never been much of a sleeper.

One particular room she found was totally empty. Whether Tony had emptied it or it had never had anything in it, she had no way of knowing, but the floor was hardwood of just the right consistency.

Tony didn't blink twice when she asked for the shoes. He had them within the hour, and gave them to her without asking questions, getting right back to repairing a drone.

She found it odd that he was immortal now. He wasn't a hedonist and didn't live in the moment anymore, because the moment was going to stretch out forever and he had no choice about whether or not he was trapped in it. It was like he'd slipped into a slightly lower form of consciousness, more relaxed and aimless than before.

Tying the ribbons came naturally, working up her legs to create the perfect tightness.

She stood up and wondered if what she was doing was stupid or immature.

Natasha slid on point a few times, testing the shoes. Then she stretched and warmed up. And then, when she was ready, she started to dance _Giselle,_ JARVIS providing the music.

Ballet had never been something Nat had chosen to do. It had been her cover story when she was working for the KGB, programmed into her and honed to perfection, but never a part of herself.

She wasn't sure why she'd suddenly wanted to do it after years of never even thinking about it. She just did.

Natasha wanted a lot of things now she was free, and for some reason this had topped the list.

Her body knew the movements even though she didn't. She slipped and fumbled a few times, and scared herself by landing a way that could've broken her ankle and didn't, but all over it was a good performance, and she was tired by the end of the first act. A long dance.

She hoped it was the first of many.

-O.O-

"How're you holding up?" Tony said. He never made eye contact when he spoke, but she didn't mind.

On Earth, she'd make her way around the question, not wanting to talk feelings with Tony Stark or anyone in particular. But here, who could he tell? It wasn't like he'd respect her less for human emotion; she had a feeling he'd probably be cool with her stabbing him several times in the chest. He'd probably laugh a bit.

"I've been better. It's just a big thing to get your head around. Humans developed object permanence for a reason, and that's because objects are supposed to be permanent," Natasha said.

"Too true. I cried like a baby when New York was getting wrecked," Tony said breezily. "Anything I can do to make your life easier?"

"Is there a chance we could try growing fruit here? Or vegetables? I'm getting sick of canned food," Nat said.

"Of course! How could I not think of that? You want potatoes? We can grow potatoes, so many potatoes you won't know what hit you," Tony said, already making plans to convert his balcony to a garden. "Potatoes are awesome."

"Thank you," Nat said.

"You kidding me? I literally have nothing better to do than to be your loyal servant."

"Don't let me abuse that."

"Go for it. I'll do just about anything."

Nat smiled and relaxed. She didn't doubt he was perfectly serious.

She liked the new Tony, odd as she was. And she liked living there, so long as she didn't think too hard about everything she'd lost.

-O.O-

When Tony had her Iron Man suit - he dubbed it the Iron Maiden with a laugh and she thought it was a pretty clever name, so laughed along too - she couldn't wait to try it out. Wariness had kept her inside the house for too long.

"You want me to come along?" Tony said. "JARVIS'll be onboard, so you don't need me really, but..."

"I'll be okay," Natasha said, but smiled to let him know she was grateful. She wondered if that was a waste of time, given that Tony didn't really use facial expressions anymore, but she did it anyway.

Tony had also given her an undersuit, but getting into the suit was still awkward, given her lack of practice and her hair getting tangled into the faceplate. Once it was finally fully in place, she tried moving, walking up Tony's driveway. Then she activated the thrusters. And then she soared like a cork out of a bottle into the sky.

A Geiger counter was ever present on her display, along with a map and various metres. She kept her eye on all of them as she doubled back and soared over Malibu, enjoying the freedom as she swooped down and headed back across the land, sticking relatively close to the land to look at everything.

On her way past she spotted the city that Tony was building for the animated candies he'd befriended. What a strange thing.

She spent the whole day exploring just California. There was a whole new world out there for her, and she was unashamedly amazed and delighted.

Natasha realised that she was laughing, a genuine sound of joy, as she darted through the desert. By the time she stopped, she couldn't remember the last time she'd ever laughed so hard. Maybe she never had.

When she thought about her own emotions, grief and survivor's guilt tried to climb back in, but she didn't let them.

 _I miss them, but there's nothing I can do. I'm here, now, and I'm happy, and I want to stay that way,_ Natasha thought. _Who's going to stop me?_

Natasha was long used to constantly being wary of the feelings of others. Now she didn't have to care.

Every secret she'd ever kept and hidden was now just like the steam rising out of the Asia Pacific; no one was alive to see it and it soon drifted into nothing.

There was nothing to stop her from being happy, not really. No taxes to pay, no missions to complete, no skeletons in her closet. Just flying, and potatoes, and whatever else she wanted.

No wonder Tony was as he was. Why bother worrying?

The sun was slipping down the horizon, casting a brilliant light, so she made her way home.

-O.O-

Her little desert epiphany changed her way of being when she returned. The first thing she did after stepping out of the suit was hug Tony.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" he said into her shoulder. "I'll take you to meet the candies tomorrow. You'd probably like Bubbles. She's smart, smarter than she should be."

"It's a date," Nat said. "Canned food for dinner, I take it?"

"Yes, but I'm working on it," Tony said. "A watched potato never grows."

"Close enough. At least I have canned food. At SHIELD we had dehydrated food when we were out and about. I never want to see powdered lamb stew again," Natasha said.

"I think I've got some, somewhere. It's all yours. I've got my fresh oranges coming in from an orchard," Tony grinned.

"Pity they're all toxic."

"Eh, what does that matter? I'm invincible. Completely unable to be vinced," Tony said. "Whatever that means. Come upstairs and have dinner with me."

She did. And after dinner she watched a movie with him.

They started the movie at opposite ends of the couch, but Nat stretched out and let her legs fall across his. Almost without thinking, Tony moved to lie across the couch with her.

There was absolutely nothing sexual about his touch or actions, like it hadn't even occurred to him.

The human touch was a blessing, something reassuring, and she found herself soaking it in. So did he. And she wondered if she was now his best friend in the world.

It was a tie between her and JARVIS, she supposed.

-O.O-

Now she was clad in the Iron Maiden, she was free to go where she wanted. She only needed Tony for his fresh water supplies, really, but living with him was pleasant and she wanted to keep doing so.

So she went with him to his Candy Kingdom.

The candies up close were just as weird as they had been at a distance. The majority of their flesh was an inorganic candy stuff and they were strangely put together, limbs placed in unnatural places and faces poorly defined.

Natasha got to meet Bubbles, a blob of pink goo sporting a kind face and a pair of stubby arms. She was the brains of the outfit.

They were only visiting so Tony could check on progress. The whole city was steadily taking shape.

Tony took her for a walk after they'd inspected the city, leading her inland to watch wild animals frolic in the grass, funny bipedal deer and squat horses and fleshy yellow camels.

"Once you learn to deal with the crippling loss of everyone you love, you'll really love it here," Tony said. "I never thought I'd be a nature-lover, back before. But nature's just so resilient. Humans died out and grass survived."

"Nature trumps humans every time," Natasha agreed, thinking of the vine in her apartment.

Tony didn't have his Iron Man suit on, having it on standby so he could walk barefoot on the grass, so she could see it when he very intentionally smiled at her. "I'm glad you survived," Tony said. "You're smart, adaptable. Other people wouldn't have coped."

"You've done amazing things, Tony," Natasha said, surprising herself with her own honesty. "You deserved to survive too."

"Thanks, but don't say deserved. Please. I'm pretty sure there were so many other people who deserved to live more than I did," Tony said. "But I was the one lucky enough to be getting it from a god and best friends with the Hulk. Just luck. And being rich."

"I've never believed in any kind of god, but with everything you've done, maybe you did survive for a reason," Nat told him.

"Maybe," Tony conceded.

They walked in silence for a while. They watched as a wolf-sized skunk chased down a badger and killed it, then fed it to her kits. They watched strange bees pollinate even stranger flowers.

"I wish you didn't have to stay in that suit. The grass feels good on my feet," Tony said, taking a seat on a rock.

Natasha wanted to be out there too.

-O.O-

Natasha got JARVIS to compile a list of 'safe zones' in the world when toxicities and radioactivity were low enough that she could go without the suit. Southern Africa, Australia, and the bottom of South America were the lucky winners.

She picked South America. Southern Africa had been populated and she didn't want to see that, and according to JARVIS, the flora and fauna in Australia was so deadly that he told her to keep away, suit or no.

Tony was once again searching for the Hulk, so he took her down in the Quinjet so she could do what she wanted while he worked.

She found herself a quiet place, where JARVIS said the animal populations were low. Then she took the suit off.

The air wasn't so odd here, just rich and earthy.

She lay down on the grass and took a nap. Her life had never been so quiet before.

-O.O-

"You're going to have to figure out what you want to do," Tony told her later over dinner.

She raised an eyebrow at him and scooped her stew into her mouth.

"Trust me, you'll get bored out of your brain in a month or two. You need something to occupy yourself for the next, what, fifty or sixty years? Until you die," Tony said. He was momentarily distracted by his dinner, stabbing his steak knife into his meat. "Did you know that those weird deer taste about a hundred times better than the old domesticated deer? I don't know if it's the horrible mutations or that they're free-range, but this is amazing."

"What do you think I should do?" Natasha asked. She didn't want to think about the steak. It smelt amazing, but apparently the deer secreted a poison to prevent the giant skunks from taking them down and she couldn't eat it.

"Sorry, sorry, I know you can't have any of it. But in any case, don't listen to me. Just _do."_

"But do what?" Natasha's skill set had no place in this new world.

"Whatever makes you happy, I guess," Tony shrugged. "I'm not a guidance counselor."

-O.O-

Natasha had no deadlines any more of any kind, aside from the big one. So there was no hurry for her to decide what she wanted from her new life.

She spent more time than she should have prowling around the abandoned cities, awestruck by what nature, radiation, and magic could do to perfectly maintained streets in a decade. A few times she was attacked by people that the magic has reanimated, green and tarry black bodily fluid oozing from every facial orifice. But they were just brainless zombies. It was disturbing, though, blasting them with her repulsors into wiggly little bits.

After a while Natasha started formally making observations.

The first of these was that while evolution under the old regime had been over millions of years, magic and radiation had shorted this to occurring actually within generations. She didn't know if it would be constant or if the rate was changing all the time; she needed to study for much longer.

Tony's drones were able to record basic information, but they couldn't really process observational information like a human brain could, so Natasha started documenting species. What they did and how they did it. What Old Earth species they had come from.

It was after over a month of studying everything from deer to the multicoloured grass without growing even a little bored that Natasha realised she'd found her calling.

She found Tony relaxing out on the balcony on a sun lounger as some of his drones tended Nat's vegetable plot.

"I want to be a biologist," she told him.

"Yeah, I kind of figured," Tony said without looking. "All the new data and all that. I had JARVIS find you some relevant texts; they're on the table in my lab."

"When did you get those?" Nat said curiously.

"Last week. I figured you could tell me yourself, though."

As Natasha approached Tony, he finally sat up and looked at her.

She bent down and gave him a hug. She'd been doing that a lot lately.

"What was that for?" Tony asked.

"Everything," Natasha replied. "Another life."


End file.
